He’d replace Ray Brown, their assistant line coach who went to Arizona for a promotion on Steve Wilks’ staff. Brown worked under longtime NFL assistant John Matsko, and Wharton gives them someone with more recent experience.

The 36-year-old Wharton was the Panthers’ third-round pick in 2004 out of South Carolina, and started for them for eight years, was cut and did a year on IR with the Bengals and came back to start 12 games for them in 2013 before retiring.

He worked as an offensive line coach at his alma mater, the University of South Carolina, in 2015.